Evansville offers $4.2 million in tax benefits

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Berry Global has plans for a $70 million expansion of its plastics production line near Downtown.

The expansion would add 150 jobs over the next three years.

To entice Berry Global to expand at its Evansville factory, the city offered the company about $4.2 million in tax benefits, including five years of property tax abatement and up to $100,000 of casino tax revenue to go toward training new employees who are Evansville residents.

Berry Global spokesperson Eva Schmitz said the company is considering Evansville for the expansion. Schmitz said the company has enjoyed its long history with the city and, the city and state have supported its expansions and developments in the past.

The company has a lot to consider when looking at expansions, she said, including what communities have to offer.

"The granting of abatement is an important point of consideration," she said.

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's office endorsed the offer, and City Council preliminarily approved the incentives at its Monday meeting. City Council will confirm the tax package at its next meeting.

The expansion includes adding four new thermoforming lines with seven new printers for the production of drink cups and lids, according to Berry's tax abatement application.

The company plans to spend $55 million in 2018 and another $15 million in 2019 on the expansion. The project would start in March 2018 and end in April 2019. The average wage for the new 150 positions is $21.49 per hour.

In a letter to Berry Global last week, Winnecke offered a tax package worth about $3.5 million. City Council amended the official offer Monday to be about $4.2 million. If Berry doesn't invest as much money, hire as many people and pay them what they say they will, the city can recoup the taxes.

Tax abatement means allowing a company to not pay a portion, or all, of its property taxes for a defined period of time. In many cases in Evansville, the tax benefits are stair-stepped down every year — 100 percent abatement in the first year, 90 percent abatement in the second year, etc.

However, the incentive package Evansville offered to Berry Global would allow the company to not pay any property taxes on the expansion for five years, with no reduction in benefits in that time.

After five years, the company will pay the full property taxes on the expansion. That money doesn't go to the general fund but instead goes to the Jacobsville tax district, which is used for redevelopment in the neighborhood.

Berry Global, formerly known as Berry Plastics, is headquartered in Evansville with 23,000 employees at 130 locations across the country. The company currently employs about 1,600 in Evansville.